To teach well, educators must begin well. The first month of school sets the tone for safety, wellness, and joy in learning. Research shows that when teachers prioritize well-being, belonging, and social-emotional growth before diving into content, students thrive academically and emotionally. Begin Well offers practical, evidence-based guidance for creating humanizing classrooms where both teachers and students flourish.

This summer, let’s treat ourselves to a different kind of professional development—one rooted in love. Informed by thirty years of research, I invite educators to grow in three essential practices: communication that begins in listening, visualization that sees student strengths, and community that nurtures belonging. These aren’t strategies—they’re ways of being. Let’s study love this summer, so we can teach it more powerfully in the fall.

As doors close for the summer, I want to talk about how to end a school year, how to finish well. We talk about how to start strong, how to manage classrooms, how to plan standards-aligned units. But what about the end? What do we do with all that we’ve lived and learned once the last bell rings? This meditation on that final stretch is a call not just to finish, but to finish well.